2007 was a challenging year for my household emotionally and financially. Due to the former I decided that "board games" were going to be a primary focus under the tree as with each came the implied promise of increased family time. However, because of the later I was forced to do much of my shopping via clearance sales.

I am so very grateful to Amazon.com where I was able, after much hunting and pecking, to find many great toys at marked down prices. In one of their "shop early and save" sales back in November I was able to get more than $150 worth of toys for $86.55. This allowed me to get Disney Pictionary, with a list price of 34.99 (and still selling in popular brick and mortar stores for $29.99), for about $16.50.

This is a DVD game and, unlike similar games such as Scene It, is board-less.

The game comes with:

- 4 wipe off boards
- 4 dry-erase markers
- 4 category cards
- 1 wipe off score card
- 1 dice
- the DVD
- 1 box of hint cards
- instruction sheet

(you will also need a damp cloth or moistened paper towel for each team - not included)

Game play is as follows:

You must play in teams. This means that you need at least 4 people, divided into 2 teams, to play. The first team who successfully answers 10 Pictionary challenges win.

When beginning each game you must decide whether to play at level 1 or level 2. Level 1 is geared toward younger players, using "classic Disney animation" and is probably best is you are playing with someone aged 5 or 6. If your youngest player is at least 8 you can feel confident moving directly to level 2 which includes animation from more recent Disney releases as well as Pixar films.

Each turn starts when you roll the die as your category will correspond to the symbol and color that shows:

- yellow Mickey head = character (i.e Maleficent)
- blue Mickey head = object (i.e. tiki torch)
- orange Mickey head = action (i.e. drop)
- green Mickey head = movie/TV (i.e. Snow White)
- red Mickey head = place (i.e. Nevada)
- black star = players choice

To add to the interest of the game some categories will be marked with an "all play" option allowing the teams to go head to head, with the first to be successful winning the point. Additionally, some categories are marked "DVD" which means that you make use of the game DVD and watch the drawing appear on the TV. DVD questions are also "all play"

Our Experience

The four of us, including 2 girls age 8 and 13 spent an hour playing this afternoon. Most of the humor, as with standard Pictionary, comes from the mis-guesses and lack of artistic ability exhibited as the game progresses.

We found ourselves stumped on many occasions with movies that were "out of date" like Herbie the Love Bug, or Disney characters such as "Galleria" played by Raven Simone, that aren't in our usual viewing rotation. That aside, we found ourselves entertained and challenged as we struggled through our DVD clips and marker drawings.

The best part of the game is, quite honestly, when the DVD draws for you. Each hint is preceded with a verbal clue and manifests as a drawing revealed a little bit at a time. This is probably the easiest way for the youngest players to take part in the game successfully as well as to allow it to be played curled up on the couch comfortably.

However, keep in mind that Disney has been a prolific producer of movies since releasing its first full length feature, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", in 1937. Add to that the TV shows that Disney is involved in and the contributions of Pixar and you are bound to find yourself, or your children stumped more than just from time to time.

To compensate for this, in our game play we allowed the artist for that turn to be able to draw cards until they found something they were comfortable drawing or to simply use a DVD "all play" as an alternate choice.

Nitpicking Negatives

Our experience was that a little over an hour playing this game was just a little too long. We found our interest waning after about 45 minutes and I would suggest to other families that a great way to have a "quick version" would be to ignore the question cards and have teams alternate rolling the die with each question being a DVD "all play". Played this way you could easily finish a game in 30-40 minutes.

Additionally, you could use the DVD option to allow 2 people to play, forgoing teams. Simply have each player take turns rolling the dice and hitting the selected category on the DVD menu. This is a great way to get more use out of a game meant to be played with 4 or more.

The game comes with a 60 second timer option. In all honesty we did not use it. Younger players, like our 8-year-old, often need more time to either draw or guess and when the answer comes quickly there is no way to back out of the time and you have to sit and wait for it to play out on its own. In either case it just doesn't work well. In the same vein, there is no easy way to "back out" if you accidentally select the wrong DVD category with your remote. It seems some tweaking needs to be done on the programming here.

The game comes with wipe-off drawing boards as well as a wipe-off score card. I was very happy with both, especially because it eliminates wasting paper, but the game lacks erasers that would add immensely to the ease of game play. Having to use a damp cloth is simply a hassle.

Overall

For the money spent this is a wonderful addition to our gaming collection. It would make a wonderful gift for children in the 6-10 age group but, aside from the tolerant play by an older sibling, is not likely to have long lasting appeal beyond that age group.

I would not recommend this item full-price thought. $25-$35 is just too much to spend on a game with such a small window of appeal. My advice is to wait for it to go on sale and pick it up when it is selling for under $20 and I am sure that you and your favorite youngsters will be very very pleased.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 16.50
Type of Toy: Game
Age Range of Child: 6 to 8 Years